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Article was added on Wednesday, August 27, 2014

THURSDAY,
OCTOBER 16is the last
day of the federal Environmental Protection Agency's public comment
period on proposed power plant regulations designed to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions.Already about 150,000 South
Carolinians have responded to our call to stop Washington, D.C.,
bureaucrats from raising your power bill. Many filled out
postcards, others joined our online petition at sc.tellepa.com. If
you have not already done so, go there now.

South Carolina must make the largest carbon
intensity reduction in the nation-815 pounds of CO2 emitted per
megawatt-hour of electricity generated. The EPA says that we
must reduce our state's emissions rate of 1,587 pounds of
CO2per megawatt-hour down to 772 pounds of
CO2per megawatt-hour, a 51 percent decrease.
Butthe agency's
S.C. emissions target is based on four flawed assumptions about our
state's energy supply.Nuclear power.The EPA encourages states to build nuclear
power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions but proposed rules
do not allow two nuclear generating units currently under
construction in S.C. to effectively count toward compliance. These
units, planned a decade ago with the goal of reducing the state's
carbon footprint, could account for more than half of our reduction
target. Following the EPA's logic, S.C. consumers will be penalized
for investing billions to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. The
regulations should be amended to recognize the CO2abatement these plants will
provide.

Natural gas.The EPA
assumes that new natural gas-fueled power plants will be built as
an alternative to coal-fired plants. The pipelines that serve the
state are fully subscribed. Our best estimates tell us that siting,
permitting, financing and constructing pipelines and natural gas
power plants can't happen by the EPA's 2020 initial implementation
deadline.Renewables.S.C.
co-ops are pioneers in developing renewable energy sources, most
recently the 27-acre Colleton Solar Farm, our state's largest solar
plant. Impressive as it is, the project still demonstrates the
limits of solar as a reliable source of electricity: The sun just
doesn't always shine when we need it. Effective storage systems
must be fully developed for solar and other renewable energy
sources to meet our power needs.Efficiency.S.C. co-ops have been national leaders on
whole-house energy efficiency programs. Boosting efficiency lowers
electricity demand and carbon dioxide emissions. But even the most
aggressive efficiency programs will achieve only half of what the
EPA demands.

Let South Carolina design our own
carbon-dioxide reduction strategies. For starters, it is critical
that regulations be amended to recognize the CO2abatement of
the two new nuclear plants.Rest assured that until these
emissions rules are finalized June 1, your co-op will do everything
in its power to look out for you - and keep power bills
affordable.